Tongs for splitting wood



Jan. 5, 1932. I MATTES 1,840,044

TONGS FOR SPLITTING WOOD Original Filed Nov. 2, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z77 yen to r 627/15 fl/a/feJ Jan 5, 1932. H. MATTES TONGS FOR SPLITTING WOOD Original Filed Nov 2, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Xvi/67160;":

Patented Jan. 5, 1932 UNITED STATE-S PA-TENT OFFICE HANsMArTns'or ULM, GERMANY.

TONGS r03 SPLITTING woon Application filed November 2, 1929, Serial" No. 404,377, and in' Germany'Novemberfl, 1928 Renewed November 23, 1931,

My invention relates to a pair of tongs adapted for the splitting of wood and the by pushing it in the direction of the cleft,

the splittingbeing accomplished with little effort and without any danger to the operator. These eflects, accordingjto the invention, are attained by suitably shaping the cutting edges, the bit of tongs, the short and long arms of the levers and by a suitablecoordination of these single parts to each other.

y In the drawings afiixed to this specification and forming part thereof several modifications of tongs embodying my inventlon are shown diagrammatically by way of example. In the drawings Fig. lis a front elevation, 7 Fig. 2 is a side-elevation, Fig. 3 a plan view, and Y Fig. 4 aseetioneon line A -B in Fig. 1 of V the first modification. I

Fig. 5 is a sectionon the same line of an-,

1 the operation to be described below. In practice the sides of this space should have 1 other modification, and p V I Fig. 6 is a side elevation thereof,

igs..7 and 8 show the manner of producing a particularly advantageous form of the p I ally to the dlmensions given in F gs. 1, 2 V

cutting edge. I v I Figs. 9-11 represent a third modification and the manner of operating it. 3

Referring first to Figs. 1- 4 the tongs com I prise shanks a and '79 forming double-armed levers, and a pivot c. The short lever arms (Z termlnate inaXe-shaped cutting blades 6,-

the cutting edgesf of which, due to thestop glare only permittedto approach tosuch an extent that they'are still spaced from each other. The symmetrical planes or the cuttingblades coincidewl ollyor at least approximately, so that they can .easilyflpene- .tratethe woodJl In order to be able to seize the wood to be I splitjat suitable distance from its edge h,

portion to the length of the arms (Z may be metrical planes without exerting transversal;

pressure, as is for instance the case with pliers, and that further, at the beginning of the impression, the lower points z of thecutting edges which, owing totheir proximity to the axis of rotationc are capableof exert-1 ing the greatest power, willbecome active, the cutting edges 7 are preferably arranged vertically to the .axisof rotation. A relatively small deviation, however, from, the vertical, as for instance shown in the modifications according to the Figs. 9-11 would not matter. V

The long arms a and I) of the levers may be bent off from the plane of the cutting blades at a small angle contrary to the bending of the short arms din orderto keep the hand of the user at'a distance k from the piece of wood.

space for the split-off piece of wood during a length of aboutiO mms, the other dimensions of the tongs being chosen proportionat 1, so as to avoid their penetration into the.

wood when operated according to Fig.1.11 (Figs. 1, 4 and 5).

The upper edge of the cutting blades may be shape'din a similar manner (m in Figs, 5 and 6).

The most advantageous form of the cutting members 1 is shown in the Figs. 7 and 8. Here the angle a at the upper edge n of the cutting bladesis a relatively small one,in order to enable this edge, which is remote from the point of rotation, to penetrate tough Betweenthe cutting blades 6, the shanks d and the pivot c a wide space, preferably oi square'iorm, is provided which ofli'ers a free wood, which does notburst under the pressure of the points i. [The angle ,8, however,

of thecutting'edges at the lower part of the cutting blades is relatively large, because here, owing to the more favourable leverage, it is possible to exert a greater power and the splitting of the wood is effected by a more rounded or flattened point more rapidly and with more energy, and because by this formation the point which is mainly stressed, is well protected against deterioration. The planes bordering the cutting edge of the blade, therefore, intersect the lateral surfaces 0 of the cutting blades on lines 1 which at the edge are spaced from the points 0', but which at the upper edge nearly or wholly touch the cutting edges f.

In the modifications shown in Fig. 3 the cutting blades are symmetrical to a plane g, 1'. The manufacture and grinding of the tongs is simplified, if the cutting blades are unsymmetrically formed so that either the outer or the inner faces 0 lie in a common plane, the grinding being effected according toFigs. 7 and 8, on one side only, preferably from the common plane. The action of the tongs will not be affected thereby.

The ends of the long arms of the lever may be provided with projections preventing the hand from gliding oil".

A spring t may be provided for opening the tongs.

The operation and act-ion of tongs according to this invention are as follows:

The piece of wood to be split is seized at one of its ends with the tongs (Fig. 9) and the latter forced into it with the points i in front. A piece of easily splitting wood of moderate length will already burst under this action. If the splitting be not yet accomplished it will be finished by lever-like laterai movements of the tongs in the direction of the arrow 1), the piece w to be split extending into the space between the bits (Figs. 10 and 11). Corresponding to the facility with which the wood can be split, nearly the whole width and depth of the bit of tongs may be made use of. If the splitting of the wood is not yet finished by the lateral lever movement, the tongs are shifted in their longitudinal direction in closed position, as shown in Fig. 11, which is highly facilitated by the truncation of the edges l or m 4, 5) and in this new position the lever-like movement according to Figs. 9 and 10 is then repeated. It is possible in this manner to split pieces of wood of any length with a single closing of the tongs. The shifting movement according to Fig. 11 may be carried out also from below upwards. especially if the cutting blades are formed as shown in 5 and 6. With thin wood the lever movement in the sense of the arrow a (Fig. 9) may be dispensed with: here the tongs will only be closed and moved downwards or upwards in the sense of the arrow m .(Fig. 11) thereby splitting the wood without any further effort. This manner of operation is especially adapted for the production of thin chips of wood.

If the tongs are produced approximately in the dimensions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, they may be operated without any effort and without any danger of hurting the operator, such as is the case with the use of knives or hatchets, and further without any injury to the clothes, and noiseless and in a very clean manner. Neither by the truncate wedge like edges provided below Z and above m, nor by the points i which are closed during the shifting movements according to Fig. 11, can the operator be hurt. Injury to the tongs is avoided by the favorable shape of the cutting edges.

.1 wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

In the claims affixed to this specification no selection of any particular modification of the invention is intended to the exclusion of other modifications thereof and the right to subsequently make claim to any modification not covered by these claims is expressly reserved.

I claim:-

1. Tongs for splitting wood and the like, comprising a pair of axe-shaped cutting blades extending substantially in the same plane, when the tool is closed, and a pair of ouble-armed levers, pivoted to each other. said blades being fixed to the shorter arms of said levers at an angle so as to allow the piece of wood to be split to be gripped by the blades in the direction of its fibres with the longer lever arms extending sideways of the wood, additional blades being formed at the inner ends of the main blades and extending substantially at right angles thereto, said additional blades enclosing obtuse angles with the blade body.

2-. Tongs for splitting wood and the like, comprising a pair of axe-shaped cutting blades extending substantially in the same plane, when the tool is closed. and a pair of double-armed levers, pivoted to each other. said blades being fixed to the shorter arms of said levers at an angle so as to allow the piece of wood to be split to be gripped bv the blades in the direction of its fibres with the longer lever arms extending sideways of the wood, additional blades being formed at the outer ends of the main blades and extending substantially at right angles there- .to, said additional blades enclosing obtuse angles with the blade body.

3. Tongs for splitting wood and the like, comprising a pair of axe-shaped cutting blades extending substantially in the same plane. when the tool is closed. and a pair of double-armed levers. pivoted to each other. said blades being fixed to the shorter arms of said levers at an angle so as to allow the piece of wood to be split to be gripped by the blades in the direction of its fibres with the longer lever arms extending sideways of the wood additional. blades being formed at the inner and outer ends of the main blades and extending substantially at right angles thereto, said additional blades enclosing obtuse angles with the blade body. 7

4c. Tongs for splitting wood and the like, comprising a pair of double-armedhandles, and a cutting blade at the shorter arm of each handle, each cutting blade having a pair of side faces intersecting at an angle and a cutting edge defined by another pair of side faces intersecting at an angle which is larger than the angle of said first-mentioned side faces, the faces of said cutting edge being so arranged with respect to the faces of said blade that their lines of intersection intersect at the apex of the angle included by said first-mentioned pair of side faces.

5. Tongs for splitting wood and the like, comprising a pair of double-armed handles. and a cutting blade at the shorter arm of each handle, each cutting blade having a pair of side faces intersecting at an angle and a cutting edge defined by another pair of side faces intersecting at an angle which is larger than the angle of said first-mentioned side faces, the cutting edges of said blades extending in a single plane, the faces of said cutting edge being so arranged with respect to the faces of said blade that their lines of intersection intersect at the apex of the angle included by said first-mentioned pair of side faces, and means for keeping said cutting edges apart from each other when said tongs are closed.

6. Tongs for splitting wood and the like,

comprising a pair of doublearmed handles,

and a cutting blade at the shorter arm of each handle, said handles including an acute angle with the plane in which said cutting blades includingan angle with said cutting blades which is more acute than the angle at which said shorter arms are bent away from said cutting blades.- v

8. Tongs for splitting wood and the like comprising a pairof double-armed handles, an axe-shaped cutting blade at one end of each handle, a pivot connecting said handles and extending at right angles to the plane in which said cutting blades are reciprocated,

the shorter arms of said handles being bent away from said cutting blades at an obtuse are reciprocated, and each cutting blade havj ing a pair ofside faces intersecting at an angle and a cutting edge defined by another pair of side faces intersecting at an angle which is largerthan the angle of said firstmentioned side faces, the faces of said cutting edge being so arranged with respect to the faces of said blade that their lines of interc 

